REVIEWER IN F.C.
L  It is the infallible, inerrant and totally
I. Authority in Holy Scripture
AUTHORITY
 Authority is the power or right to give
orders, make decisions, and enforced
obedience; the right to act in a
specified way, delegated from one
person or organization to another.
 Society / well ordered nor
prosperous / legitimate authority /
preserved institutions / devote
themselves as far as is necessary to
work and care for the good of all.
 Means the quality by virtue of which
persons or institutions make laws and
give orders to men, and expect
obedience from them.
 Governs us
 It is important for unity
 Its role is to ensure as far as possible
the common good of the society.
Moral Orders: “Let every person be subject to
governing authorities. For there is no authority
except from God, and those that exist have been
instituted by God. Therefore he who resists the
authorities resists what God has appointed, and
those who resist will incur judgment.
DUTY OF OBEDIENCE
• It requires all to give due honor to
authority, and to treat those who are
charged to exercise it with respect, and,
insofar as it is deserved, with gratitude
and goodwill.
• Common good is a “moral force based on
freedom and a sense of responsibility.”
• Authority is legitimate when it seeks
common good.
II. Responsible Use of Authorities
AUTHORITY IN HOLY SCRIPTURE
 The Bible is the word of God
free from error.
 The bible is sufficient for the Christian
faith
 It is the final authority in all matters of
faith and practice
 True Evangelical missionary-minded.
Reason and Function of Authority
 Governs us
 Guardian of the common good
 If the people can perform some function,
the government ought not do it.
III. Virtue of Obedience
Obedience
• Father John Anthony Hardon
– Obedience is the moral virtue that
inclines the will to comply with
the will of another who has the
right to command.
• Saint Thomas AQUINAS
• God must be obeyed in all things.
Obedience to him is no limit.
• Human authorities are to be
obeyed in certain things.
IV. Guidelines for the relations between
Church and State:
1. The Church has the right to work and to
govern herself in full freedom from state
intervention.
2. The Church does not possess any political
power over the temporal order.
3. The state does not possess any authority
over the spiritual, religious order.
4. The state has the right and duty to protect
religious freedom and to promote
conditions favorable to religious life.